Worried about leaving cats.

[beck0321]

We are going on vacation in two weeks!
We have three cats that we are leaving at my parents' house an hour and a half away. One cat that we have is such a spoiled baby and has separation anxiety. We usually always bring him in everytime we go to visit my parents. He likes to stay in their house because they have 4 cats over there.
Wel are going to be bringing him down there a week early for Thanksgiving and leave him there so he can adjust to the other cats (it usually takes him about two days). Well one cat is his freind all the time but the other warm up to him after a couple of days and they start playing. The other two are staying in the poolhouse by themselves because of various reasons, so we are bringing them down the day before our trip.
I'm not really worried about the other two but I hate leaving my orange baby there for two weeks. I'm afraid he will miss us too much, and I will miss him SO much! It just makes more sense this way since we'd have to bring him down for Thanksgiving anyway. My parents love to have him around, even though he harrasses to no end one of their other cats.
What do you think? Will he get depressed from being away from us so long? My parents and sis love him and give him attention too.

 

[wdwmom2]

He may miss you but staying with family that loves him and will pay attention to him is much better than the normal alternative.....a kennel.

When we go on vacations, we have my sister come stay at the house. This way their daily routine in minimally interrupted.

 

[Sherri]

I feel your pain. It is so hard for me to get excited for vacation when I think of our poor babies being without us. We leave them home and have a person come in and feed them and change their litter.
Ours are all spoiled as well. It sounds like you have the best of both worlds, you get to go and know they are in good hands with their grandparents.
Send them with something of yours from home, like a shirt or sweatshirt that you recently wore. That helps them feel secure.

 

[minniecarousel]

Your fur-babies are soooo cute!!

Hey - look at it this way. They need a vacation too!

(did that help?)

 

[shortbun]

I used to do this with one of my cats. Once, I was away for a long time and he was soooo mad at me when I got back. He sat with his back to me in the middle of whatever room I was in for about 3 days. It was quite a display. He also hid from me when I tried to take him home. My Dad put signs on their door. "NO CATS HERE" My parents didn't want to give him up either. I think your cat will be ok; once he's over being mad at you!

 

[WDWguru]

This may sound weird, but it really works for us. We have five kitties and a pug and have a pet sitter come in. We take some t-shirts that we wear around the house and leave them in some of their favorite spots - the chair the cats curl up in, the spot by the window, etc. We just wear them around all week before we go like usual, then don't launder them. It sounds gross, but it's not like they're smelly to us, they just have our "scent" on them. We have one cat who used to have serious issues when we'd leave - and we travel a lot so had to do something. Since we started this, it really helps. It comforts them to have your familiar scent around and especially works with the dog!

 

[epcotfan]

This may sound weird, but it really works for us. We have five kitties and a pug and have a pet sitter come in. We take some t-shirts that we wear around the house and leave them in some of their favorite spots - the chair the cats curl up in, the spot by the window, etc. We just wear them around all week before we go like usual, then don't launder them.

I do this as well. I leave a worn shirt on my bed and couch for the cats. My male cat, Dave loves it. I do think it brings him some comfort and familiarity when he is in the care of our petsitter.

 

[debden]

We are going on vacation in two weeks!
We have three cats that we are leaving at my parents' house an hour and a half away. One cat that we have is such a spoiled baby and has separation anxiety. We usually always bring him in everytime we go to visit my parents. He likes to stay in their house because they have 4 cats over there.
Wel are going to be bringing him down there a week early for Thanksgiving and leave him there so he can adjust to the other cats (it usually takes him about two days). Well one cat is his freind all the time but the other warm up to him after a couple of days and they start playing. The other two are staying in the poolhouse by themselves because of various reasons, so we are bringing them down the day before our trip.
I'm not really worried about the other two but I hate leaving my orange baby there for two weeks. I'm afraid he will miss us too much, and I will miss him SO much! It just makes more sense this way since we'd have to bring him down for Thanksgiving anyway. My parents love to have him around, even though he harrasses to no end one of their other cats.
What do you think? Will he get depressed from being away from us so long? My parents and sis love him and give him attention too.

I have a little orange baby too and he definitely thinks of me as his mom.He doesn't like me to be away for any length of time period.Well this past March I went on a trip for 10 days.I too was very fretful about leaving him even though my mom was here to watch him and he had 4 other cats to play with.
When I returned home he was fine.He was playing with the other cats when I got home and he hardly noticed I was there! I was very relieved and happy to say the least.Maybe if he has a favorite toy or blanket or place to sleep you can bring it over to your mom's house with him so he has something that's familiar to him and the seperation anxiety won't be as bad.
I'm sure your kitty will be fine at your mom's.You can give him extra lovins when you get back.
Debbie

 

[alldiz]

your very lucky u can bring your cat to another house
with other cats....thats awesome...

i have 3 cats and i leave in about a week....
i have someone coming twice a day.....
one of my cats only likes me in this world
i have to tell you i get so stressed that i dont
want to leave for the world...
i did have a great time last may....when i
came home they were all fine...
kerri

 

[Danauk]

When we go on holiday our cats stay at our house and our neighbours feed them. To be honest I think we miss them more than they miss us! As long as they are fed and are given fuss and attention which ours certainly get when we are away they are happy. They do seem to miss us a bit though as when we return they tend to follow is around more for a few days but after that they are back to normal.
I'm sure your cats will be fine, have a great trip.

 

[smartestnumber5]

I'm sure your cats will be fine given they'll have people around all the time. They might miss you a lot, but at least they'll have human companionship.

GF and I are going to my parents for Christmas. It's an 8.5 hour drive and we were hoping to take an extra day on the way back for something fun, so it seems it'll be a 6 day trip at the minimum. We have no one to leave them with, but we have some friends who check in on them everyday in exchange for us checking in on their cats and dog the week earlier. Even though they'll get a visit everyday we feel worried and bad leaving them. Our older guy should be fine as he's been left like this before, and he likes to keep to himself a lot anyway. But our little guy is still a kitten, and we've only left him once--for 2 and a half days. And when we got back he had seemed to get a little feral when we were gone! He also loves human companionship and when I'm home studying he'll spend all day with me laying under the table where I'm working and then getting on the table trying to get some attention from me. I just don't know if 20 minutes each day will be enough human companionship for him for 6 days! I really wish the cats didn't mind car rides and we could just bring them with us. That would still be quite a headache for an 8.5 hour drive, but at least they'd be with us.

 

[beck0321]

I used to do this with one of my cats. Once, I was away for a long time and he was soooo mad at me when I got back. He sat with his back to me in the middle of whatever room I was in for about 3 days. It was quite a display. He also hid from me when I tried to take him home. My Dad put signs on their door. "NO CATS HERE" My parents didn't want to give him up either. I think your cat will be ok; once he's over being mad at you!

That's part of the reason I am worried. I know Bengal, the orange tabby, gets VERY mad at us when we leave him for over a day. I can tell he's mad because he fusses at us (he's very vocal) and stares us down with his HUGE black eyes. It's times like those I think he is plotting our demise.

I told my mom I was worried about leaving him for so long, but she told me not to worry about it and that they were excited to have him come stay.

We bring him down this Wednesday. I think I will try the thing about bringing a blanket and a few shirts from our apt. I didn't think of that, but if he has that to sleep on he might feel more at home. I'm also going to do that for the other two when we bring them down next Thursday. One of them has taken a liking to a peice of luggage that we set out but are not planning to use. He likes to sleep on it. Maybe I'll bring that for him.

Thank you all so much for the suggestions and reassurance. It made me feel so much better!